Since August, it seems our financial situation has steadily gotten worse to the point that we began really wondering how we were going to keep a roof over our heads and food in our kids bellies. John got his job fairly quickly after we moved, though he's making about half what he used to. I've been applying everywhere since we arrived in Portland and have had virtually zero interest. To say this was discouraging is a vast understatement. I was crushed.
I found myself in this strange position where I was no longer qualified to go back into the field I left over three years ago and not quite qualified for anything else either. I changed my tactics and began applying for entry level office/admin/customer service jobs only to find I had been paid too much in my previous jobs for any new companies to consider me. This I found to be strange. Every company I talked to seemed so hung up on my salary history, to which I would respond that ok, so I made a lot of money three years ago, but since then I've made NO money, so why is this a problem? I wasn't expecting to make anywhere near my previous salary. Hell, what I was expecting was to make roughly what I made when I was 18 years old. Seriously, ANY salary is a HUGE improvement in our financial situation.
Getting more discouraged by the day, I looked up several local staffing companies and sent them a pathetic email explaining my situation. I've been home raising my kids for the last three years. I want to go back to work. I NEED to go back to work. I have all this experience in all these things and I KNOW I would do a great job for anyone who would be willing to hire me, but no one seems to be willing to give me a chance. It's like my resume is made of kryptonite or something. Do you have any temporary opportunities that would allow me to recharge my resume, give me new and current experience? Anything? Beuller??
One company got back to me. They had me come in to interview and take some tests. Aside from the horrifying 80 question math test (I can't even calculate a tip I'm so bad at math. This test was pure torture for me) I passed all the tests with flying colors. I even peed in the cup for the drug test without spilling a single drop. I found out that I type 85 WPM! My old boss and my good friend both gave me glowing references. The next day the staffing company sent me to interview with a call center. Later that day the call center called me and offered me the job, but they didn't have any open spots for the next training class. But, they said, they didn't want to risk losing me to another assignment, so they wanted me to come in to the training on Monday as a backup. If someone else doesn't show up I can take their spot.
HALLELUJAH!
HALLELUJAH!
HALLELUJAH! HALLELUJAH! HALLELUJAH!
I am SO EXCITED! Ok, so I'm not really excited about leaving my kids to go back to work. But if I've got to go back to work, this situation is probably the best I could hope for. I will work in the mornings and always be home in time for John to get to work so the boys don't have to go to daycare. The office I'd work in is close to home, only 10 min away, so I won't be wasting a lot of time on commuting (like John, who has a 45 min commute). The job itself should be easy, and I'm definately starting on the bottom, but there are a lot of different departments that I could cross train and promote into, so there is potential for a higher salary and a more interesting job in the future.
To celebrate John and I decided it was time to buy a new car. Well, new to us. John and I don't buy new cars. It's against our religion (Dave Ramsey-ism). Strictly speaking we didn't NEED a new car. The schedule I should have and the schedule John has work out so that we can each take our one car to work. But our little van is starting to give us trouble and isn't as reliable as we'd need it to be. Not to mention if both of us are taking it to work, we're putting even more wear and tear on a car that's coughing and sputtering under it's current work load. Plus, the parent who's home with the boys would be stranded, unable to go to playdates or doctor visits or even take Alex to preschool. It's too cold to walk anywhere until Spring. Busses don't run early enough to take me to work or bring John home from work (so the at home parent could keep the van). The kids would be bored out of their minds stuck in our tiny apartment watching endless reruns of WordWorld. We agreed that the cost of a new car would be well worth the happiness it would bring to our lives.
And we found a GREAT car! It's a 2001 VW Jetta with crazy low miles (54,000). It's black and sporty with a stick shift. Drives like it's almost new. It desn't have all the bells and whistles we're used to in a car. No CD player and no power windows, but it should do it's job as our commuting vehicle nicely.
So finally, for the first time since August, I feel hopeful about our money situation. Instead of going backwards, instead of feeling like we're freefalling into this big dark hole with no end in sight, I feel like we've found our ripcords and the parachute is starting to open up, slow our decent and give us reason to believe we can dig ourselves out.
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